It is reported that:
👉 40% of Year 9 girls have dieted, despite being a healthy weight
👉 more than half of surveyed girls (aged 20-25) attending a program about weight management – would rather be HIT BY A TRUCK than be fat
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Introducing the work of Mary Evans Young #nodietday
She was bullied at school for being “fat” and went on to experience – and survive – anorexia nervosa.
She started working to help people appreciate themselves for what they are, and to appreciate the body they have.
She relates in her book “Diet Breaking: Having It All Without Having to Diet” how she became irritated with the coffee break conversation about whether or not the women were going to eat a biscuit – “Oh, I’ll just have one”, “I shouldn’t really”, “Oh, all right then”.
Young is known for outwardly asking a training group “What do you think would happen if you spent as much time and energy on your CAREERS as you do on diets?”
❤️ Two other incidents strengthened Young’s desire to expose what she believes is the futility of dieting:
1. A television program in which three women were having their stomachs stapled in an effort to become thin. None of them received any counselling before undergoing surgery and one of the women had split her staples, regained the weight, and undergone the operation again – three times. Mary found this program very distressing, because it triggered a reminder about her own previous deep self-loathing.
2. About a month later, Young read in a newspaper about a teenager who had hanged herself because she was bullied for being fat. She was size 14 (USA size 12).
